Pacific Fishermen Report Best King Salmon Season in Years

Trolling off the California coast, Sarah Bates leans over the side of her boat and pulls out a long, silvery fish prized by anglers and seafood lovers: wild king salmon.Reeling in a fish “feels good every time,” but this year has been surprisingly good, said Bates, a commercial troller based in San Francisco.She and other California fishermen are reporting one of the best salmon fishing seasons in years, thanks to heavy rain and snow that ended the state’s historic drought.California Drought Pushes Estimate of Dead Trees Past 100 MillionThe California drought has significantly increased the number of dead trees in the state, which in turn increases the risk of wildfires, U.S. officials said Friday.Officials said the latest aerial survey by the U.S. Forest Service showed an alarming increase in dead trees, which they estimated to total 102 million, an increase of 36 million since the government's last survey in May.U.S. It’s a sharp reversal for chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, an iconic species that helps sustain many Pacific Coast fishing communities.Commercial salmon catches have surpassed official preseason forecasts by about 50%, said Kandice Morgenstern, a marine scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Harvests have been particularly strong in Morro Bay, Monterey and San Francisco, but weaker along California’s northern coast.“We’re really surprised to be seeing this many fish being landed so far this season,” Morgenstern said.The salmon rebound comes after three years of extremely low catches that resulted from poor ocean conditions and California’s five-year drought, which drained the state’s rivers and reservoirs.Over the past several years, regulators imposed severe fishing restrictions to protect chinook salmon, and officials declared federal fishery disasters in 2018 to assist fishing communities in California, Oregon and Washington. This year’s adult salmon are the first class to benefit from record... If you wish to read this full breaking news headline, plus more articles from around Thailand and Asia like, Pacific Fishermen Report Best King Salmon Season in Years, simply click on
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